4th April: Senegal Independence Day

Today in 1960, Senegal signed an independence agreement with France.

1. Dakar is the capital and largest city.
2. Senegal is home to the tallest statue in Africa, The African Renaissance Monument, which is 49m tall and situated just outside Dakar. It is made from bronze and depicts a family group. It was built in 2010 and dedicated on the 50th anniversary of Independence in 2010.
3. A famous and colourful sight in Senegal is Lake Retba, a saline lake which is coloured Pink. The pink colour is caused by a type of algae, and is particularly striking during the dry season (November to June). The lake is surrounded by magenta coloured samphire bushes and terra-cotta sand dunes.
4. The first president was Léopold Sédar Senghor. He was a poet and philosopher, and it was he who wrote the Senegalese national anthem. He was a strong believer in African unity.
5. French is the official language, but most people speak other dialects, the most common being Wolof.
6. The Senegalese national sport is wrestling, but Football is also very popular. Papiss Cissé, the footballer who holds the record for the most goals scored in the German football league by an African – 22 goals during the 2010-11 season, is from Senegal.
7. The national football team is known as the Lions of Teranga. Teranga is the Wolof word for hospitality, something which is a very important part of Senegalese culture. Senegalese people will greet each other each time they meet, even if it's several times a day. Asking about the health of another person and their family is expected before they get around to talking about anything else.
8. The country is named after the Sénégal River. One theory as to how the river, and the country got their name is that it derives from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means "our canoe", and was the result of a misunderstanding between the Portuguese explorers and local fishermen. The fishermen were talking about the boats while the explorers thought they were talking about the country. "We're all in the same canoe" is a popular phrase used by politicians appealing for national solidarity. Historians today believe in the less romantic theory that the place was named for the Berber Zenaga people, who lived on the northern side of the river.
9. The national dish is chep-bu-jen, the Wolof word for Rice with fish.
10. The national flag has bands of Green, Yellow, and red, with a green five-pointed star in the centre of the yellow band. The colour green represents the forest and hope. Yellow stands for the savanna, and red for the blood spilled in the fight for liberty. The coat of arms includes a gold lion and the state seal has the coat of arms on one side and a baobab tree on the other, with the national motto: "One people, one aim, one faith." The baobab tree was the traditional meeting place for discussions and political rallies.

Death and Faxes

Several women have been found murdered - it looks like the work of a ruthless serial killer. Psychic medium Maggie Flynn is one of the resources DI Jamie Swan has come to value in such cases - but Maggie is dead, leaving him with only the telephone number of the woman she saw as her successor, her granddaughter, Tabitha Drake.

Tabitha, grief-stricken by Maggie's death and suffering a crisis of confidence in her ability, wants nothing to do with solving murder cases. She wants to hold on to her job and find Mr Right (not necessarily in that order); so when DI Swan first contacts her, she refuses to get involved.

The ghosts of the victims have other ideas. They are anxious for the killer to be caught and for names to be cleared - and they won't leave Tabitha alone. It isn't long before Tabitha is drawn in so deeply that her own life is on the line.

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Glastonbury Swan

Every few weeks, there is a mysterious death in Glastonbury. They seem completely unrelated - an apparent suicide, a hit and run, a drug overdose, a magic act which goes horribly wrong - but is that what the killer wants people to think?

The police are certainly convinced - but one of the victims is communicating to medium Tabitha Drake that the deaths are linked.

Who is killing all these people and why? 

This is what Tabitha has to figure out - before it is too late to save someone very dear to her.

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E-book Amazon Kindle

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